For just as long, though, there have been some unanswered questions — such as how big of a role menopause plays in raising a woman’s diabetes risk compared with other age-related changes, and exactly how losing estrogen might affect the regulation of glucose in your blood.

Advertisement

A new study, published earlier this month in the journal JCI Insight, sheds some light on the relationship between estrogen and blood glucose levels, showing how estrogen can help improve glucose tolerance in both estrogen-deprived mice and human cells.

Estrogen, your pancreas, and your intestines

For their experiment with mice, researchers at the University of Geneva in Switzerland looked at the effects of removing the mice’s ovaries on blood glucose control. When the mice were given an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), they had elevated blood glucose compared with mice that still had their ovaries. This suggests that estrogen, at least in mice, plays an important role in glucose metabolism — something researchers have long known or suspected.

What’s different about this study is what it examined, and discovered, at the cellular level. “We were able to isolate intestinal L cells and pancreatic insulin- and glucagon-producing cells, and for the first time show the effects of estrogens on these cells,” says lead researcher Jacques Philippe, MD,, a professor of medicine and chief of the division of endocrinology, diabetes, and nutrition at the University of Geneva.

Estrogen, Philippe notes, acts on hormone-producing cells in your pancreas and intestines in a number of different ways.

“In the pancreas, estrogens directly stimulate secretion of insulin, the hormone which lowers blood glucose after a meal, and inhibit secretion of glucagon, which elevates blood glucose,” says Philippe. Estrogen also stimulates the production of a hormone called GLP-1, which is produced in both the pancreas and the intestines — and GLP-1 acts to stimulate the release of insulin and inhibit the release of glucagon, as well.

When the mice in the study were given estrogen, the effects of estrogen deprivation on their glucose tolerance were reversed — with increased secretion of GLP-1 seen along with the effects on blood glucose levels. Increased GLP-1 secretion was also seen in cells from the mice that were removed and cultured when these cells were exposed to estrogen. The researchers also did the same with human cells from deceased donors, and found the same effect.

Implications for estrogen therapy?

Because this study examined only mice and human cells, it can’t offer any conclusions or recommendations regarding the use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to increase estrogen levels in women after menopause.

It does, though, point to mechanisms in both the pancreas and the intestines by which estrogen helps your body regulate glucose — and these processes support the idea that a higher risk of diabetes after menopause is due to estrogen deprivation, not just other age-related changes.

“By these mechanisms, which disappear after menopause, estrogens protect from diabetes,” Philippe emphasizes.

Philippe notes that further studies will be needed to learn how the timing and dosage of supplemental estrogen might reduce the risk of diabetes in postmenopausal women.

What’s clear now, though, is that estrogen plays a vital role in how women’s bodies handle glucose. If you’re going through menopause or have done so recently, it may be worthwhile to discuss this topic with your doctor.

Disclaimer of Medical Advice: You understand that the blog posts and comments to such blog posts (whether posted by us, our agents or bloggers, or by users) do not constitute medical advice or recommendation of any kind, and you should not rely on any information contained in such posts or comments to replace consultations with your qualified health care professionals to meet your individual needs. The opinions and other information contained in the blog posts and comments do not reflect the opinions or positions of the Site Proprietor.

All comments are moderated and there may be a delay in the publication of your comment. Please be on-topic and appropriate. Do not disclose personal information. Be respectful of other posters. Only post information that is correct and true to your knowledge. When referencing information that is not based on personal experience, please provide links to your sources. All commenters are considered to be nonmedical professionals unless explicitly stated otherwise. Promotion of your own or someone else's business or competing site is not allowed: Sharing links to sites that are relevant to the topic at hand is permitted, but advertising is not. Once submitted, comments cannot be modified or deleted by their authors. Comments that don't follow the guidelines above may be deleted without warning. Such actions are at the sole discretion of DiabetesSelfManagement.com. Comments are moderated Monday through Friday by the editors of DiabetesSelfManagement.com. The moderators are employees of Madavor Media, LLC and do not report any conflicts of interest. A privacy policy setting forth our policies regarding the collection, use, and disclosure of certain information relating to you and your use of this Web site can be found here. For more information, please read our Terms and Conditions